George Bush - As Stupid As He Looks?

oldfogey, how about contributing something useful instead of calling people idiots.

I think I have probably given my share, it is up to others to decide whether my contribution is useful. What have you actually done Ms. Nobio? Have you done anything lately to keep the idiots in Washington from taking more of your freedom away? If not, I suggest you start. If you have, tell us about it.

Bush is a person whose decisions affect pretty much the whole population of the planet. If he's an idiot, we need to know about that. Identifying him accurately as such is pretty useful in my book.

I think GWB is smart in the sense of "home-town-cunning" (like a fox). But he's a person who is staggeringly ignorant of the world and the way it works. He's also a fundamentalist who sees things in black and white, so anything that has shades of grey, like 99% of international diplomacy, is completely incomprehensible to him.

But worse than any of this, the man is a dishonest hypocrite. He claims to be working for democracy, freedom and the constitution and people of the US. The truth is, he doesn't give a damn about any of these things. Everything that drives him is part of his hidden agenda ... an addiction to power and a slavish ideology that serves his buddies in big business and the top end of town.

His real feelings towards the American people showed up when Katrina hit New Orleans. He really didn't give a damn until he was advised that his lack of attention might affect his approval ratings.

I don't think you could do that job if you didn't at least care for the American people.

You've just explained why Bush is doing such a lousy job.

if his real interest was power, he could have done a hell of a lot more by now!

You haven't been paying much attention, have you? He's been shoveling money to his cronies, he's declared that he has the Constitutional power to ignore any law he chooses, he's been engaging in illegal surveillance, he's declared habeas corpus moot...OK, so he hasn't (so far as we know) disappeared any Americans, but that hasn't been necessary, since so far there's no one who can stop him from doing whatever he wants. We'll see how ugly things get if the Democrats take back the Senate.

Its the old "my vote won't make a difference" argument, thinking conservative, and that argument has become a more weighty issue following the curious and suspect outcome of both the 2000 and 2004 presidential races.

I think name calling has been around for the history of American politics, but the din and ruckus of the last six years has been backed by outrage, despair and an increasingly perceived need to get the voting system 'fixed" before another four-year debacle cycle begins in 2008.

One vote added to many others does make a difference, and I wish more would realize that and vote.

Your right about name calling being around for awhile, but I was talking about the names directed towards Mr. Bush

Thename calling began long before 2000.

As you know, one of the key points in the GOPAC tapes is that "language matters." In the video "We are a Majority," Language is listed as a key mechanism of control used by a majority party, along with Agenda, Rules, Attitude and Learning. As the tapes have been used in training sessions across the country and mailed to candidates we have heard a plaintive plea: "I wish I could speak like Newt."

That takes years of practice. But, we believe that you could have a significant impact on your campaign and the way you communicate if we help a little. That is why we have created this list of words and phrases.

This list is prepared so that you might have a directory of words to use in writing literature and mail, in preparing speeches, and in producing electronic media. The words and phrases are powerful. Read them. Memorize as many as possible. And remember that like any tool, these words will not help if they are not used.

...Often we search hard for words to define our opponents. Sometimes we are hesitant to use contrast. Remember that creating a difference helps you. These are powerful words that can create a clear and easily understood contrast. Apply these to the opponent, their record, proposals and their party.

* abuse of power * anti- (issue): flag, family, child, jobs * betray * bizarre * bosses * bureaucracy * cheat * coercion * "compassion" is not enough * collapse(ing) * consequences * corrupt * corruption * criminal rights * crisis * cynicism * decay * deeper * destroy * destructive * devour * disgrace * endanger * excuses * failure (fail) * greed * hypocrisy * ideological * impose * incompetent * insecure * insensitive * intolerant * liberal * lie * limit(s) * machine * mandate(s) * obsolete * pathetic * patronage * permissive attitude * pessimistic * punish (poor ...) * radical * red tape * self-serving * selfish * sensationalists * shallow * shame * sick * spend(ing) * stagnation * status quo * steal * taxes * they/them * threaten * traitors * unionized * urgent (cy) * waste * welfare

Remember, Gingrich had already used this technique to take power, now he was formally teaching it to his foot-soldiers.

I think he has recieved "courtesy passes" through his life because of the family $$$$. If he were truly intelligent, he wouldn't surround himself by babbling idiots; he'd have smart advisors. I can't see ONE figure in his admin who breaks 100 IQ-wise.

That is really interesting Morwynd - even allowing for the 10 year old clip being a memorized speech he may not have written vs. a debate where he has to think on his feet, still I can't see him delivering that well today. Knowing he used to be a heavy drinker, I would chalk this up to the effects of all those lost brain cells.

I've seen that video too, and it is striking. But if the deterioration is due to drinking, then he's still drinking. I've seen several people go from being blithering idiots when they were drunks, back to something at least close to their previous IQ when they quit. None of the people I know who quit drinking continued to deteriorate.

Has noone noticed that the bigger the whopper he's about to tell, the twangier he gets? When the it-shay started to hit the an-fay some months back, the twang went away - now it's back all tuned up for the midterm stumping. That and he's from the East for goodness' sakes!

Really good observation, miss j!
Hey, wait- I used to be from the East... say, what're you trying to do here? *mock indignation*

no, no, Nycam, I'm just saying he don't come by the drawl honestly ;)

Yew mean peopul wanna talk like theat? i thawt itsa speach impedi-thingee, or cleyft pallit, or sum such. M'sayin.

The further south you are born, the more vowels you produce. If you don't get rid of them, they back up and clog the plumbing, so you have to fit as many as possible into every syllable.

I watched the video, and this is what I think: As a governonr, W was at his level of competence. As President, this man who had never even been overseas is totally over his head. Please remember how in his presidential campaign, he very nearly bragged about this, and professed no interest in nation-building. Well, the puppeteers around him had other plans. i think this may explain the stammering.

I was trying to track down that "Bush had never been overseas" story, and the best I got was some "he said, she said" stuff. There were claims that the only time he'd been outside N. America was a golfing trip to St. Andrews as a teenager, countered only by a loud "NUH UH!!!!" from the other camp.

If he actually did go overseas, you'd think it would be written up in his biography, and his defenders would be able to point to that. It's pretty hard to prove a negative, since we don't have a log of every day of Bush's life. On the other hand, the positive would be pretty easy to prove, since all you would need is a trustworthy person who said they went on tatrip with Bush, or saw him off at the airport, or got a souvenir from him. I wasn't able to find anything like that.

I find it hard to conceive of someone with the kind of family money Bush has who didn't travel extensively.

President George W. Bush has a 124 IQ. His 2004 opponent John Kerry has a 122 IQ. His 2000 opponent Al Gore has a 134 IQ.

Pretty interesting stuff, although it's all pretty much guesstimation

SAT and IQ are completely different. IQ tests are SUPPOSED to be designed so that you could give the test to a person who never went to school at all and find out how smart they are. The SAT test is based on a lot of knowledge that is accrued through schooling. So, in essence, if someone studies hard at the SATs, they can raise their SAT scores through a lot of memorization and work, but IQ is supposed to be more of a judgement of capacity. It's the same way that knowing a lot of things doesn't necessarily mean that you're smart and vice versa (for example, their are people like rain man who have encyclopedic knowledge, but they aren't "smart" exactly).

hah, now we're just arguing the word smart, we've gotten off-track :P

hehe, I'm off their chart (not telling which way....) - hey Ma, can I join the presidentistry?

Exactly!

I heard a message in support of a measure endorsed by former President Clinton today, and MY GOD it was such a breath of fresh air, to hear someone who speaks eloquently, clearly, and in complete sentences (v. sound bites).

no kidding, Nycam - the strikng difference, to me, is Clinton's engagement in, and curiosity about the rest of the world. Intelligence is about asking questions, not showing you have all the answers.

You have the bead on that one, miss j.

Intelligence is about asking questions, not showing you have all the answers.

Very, very well said. Words to live by.

You paraphrase Socrates: "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."

Hi, Eric- I don't know if people on newsvine are "against Bush"; just a little better-read and more open to discussing issues than non-viners, IMO.
People who just parrot the political rhetoric heard in the ubiquitous neo-con shows are not as likely to be open to discussing views they have adopted, rather than researched.

Personally, I no longer care for his policies or even like him all that much. But I can't be against him since he is all I got right now as far as a president goes. For example, I know Iraq is a stupid mess but I need him to win so I have to hope he eventually "figgers" it all out.

The situation is far from ideal but much like the brother you do not like, Bush is what he is and he's ours. Sighhhhhhhhhhh.

Gore was smarter than Bush...right, he won that election.

Kerry (according to the guesstimates) was the same (2 points is invisible in terms of IQ), and his loss was problematic.

We may be seeing signs of that when [Bush] can't seem to find to the end of a sentence

His father had the same problem, though it may have been something he picked up from Reagan, who really couldn't keep track of what he had started out to say.

I don't recall Bush Sr having nearly so much difficulty. The next few days should be interesting. He really floundered in his news conference.

Don't be ridiculous. Just because his going to Yale and Harvard doesn't fit into the character he's become in many people's minds, doesn't mean he cheated his way through two of the most prestigious colleges in the world.
Frankly, I think it's more dangerous to assume that he's stupid.

Better at oratory than at reason I would say.

Interestingly...or not: Post'ing my comment just now (#23) and half of it was cut off. Hmmm...maybe "they're" looking. Anyway...lets try this again.

At first, I was going to say that Bush was not stupid because of the cunning he exudes. However, then I read the definitions (Merriam-Webster) of "stupid"...especially meaning 1(b) "given to unintelligent decisions or acts : acting in an unintelligent or careless manner". Or 2. "dulled in feeling or sensation". Even 3. "marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting : SENSELESS, a stupid decision.

I found myself having to agree, that, indeed, he is as stupid as he looks.

Additionally, he exhibits no identifiable form or wisdom of any sense of logic grounded in humanity. In short, he is the school-yard bully who knows how to steal your lunch money or break your bones in 6 different ways. But...ask him to relate with others in any way besides being CinC, and, well...it does not compute!!